Board To Death

This game pays homage to the board game Clue, and its hilarious film adaptation, by adopting its standard phrasing for a solved murder mystery: "Professor Plum, in the billiard room, with the candlestick!" Host Ophira Eisenberg doles out Clue-style descriptions of murder plots in famous films. The only crime in this game might be spoilers—so be warned.

Plus, house musician Jonathan Coulton treats us to a Beatles cover with a title that also could be the solution to a Clue murder mystery: "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

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Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

And our first two contestants are here, and they look very excited or terrified, I'm not sure which. Let's welcome Dan Margolis and Sydney Levin.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Dan, in the past, I hear you've won a blender on a cooking show. Can you explain that?

DAN MARGOLIS: So that was back in the mid 90s. There was a show of the TV Food Network called "Ready, Set, Cook." And I was paired up with a professional chef and I competed against another person. And out of the two of us, I was the runner-up, I like to say.

(LAUGHTER)

MARGOLIS: Which means that I didn't get the grand prize, which was a pot, but I did get the runner-up prize, which was a blender.

EISENBERG: Oh, the pot was the grand prize?

MARGOLIS: The pot was the - it was a Calphalon pot.

EISENBERG: Oh, I think you kind of got the grand prize after all.

MARGOLIS: I think I did.

EISENBERG: Well done. Sydney, you write horoscopes?

SYDNEY LEVIN: Yes, I do.

EISENBERG: That's so exciting. So, of course, this raises the most important question. Why are Libras not compatible with Capricorns?

(LAUGHTER)

LEVIN: You know, I can't tell you because then it would be showing you the future.

(LAUGHTER)

LEVIN: So I'm just going to leave it at some day you'll know.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Our first game is called Board to Death. Does that sound fun? Yes. But that is board as in B-O-A-R-D. Aha. Like if I said, Professor Plum in the billiard room with the candlestick, you'd recognize it as a possible solution for the game Clue, where you have to guess who committed the murder, in what location and with what weapon.

So in this game, I'm going to give you the solution to a fictional murder committed in a film, novel or play, and you're going to tell us the work in which each of these dastardly deeds took place. And the winner of this round, contestants, will move on to our Ask Me One More final round at the end of the show. Norman Bates, in the shower, with the knife.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Dan?

MARGOLIS: "Psycho."

EISENBERG: "Psycho," of course that is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: A dinosaur, in the jeep, with venom claws and teeth.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Dan?

MARGOLIS: "Jurassic Park."

EISENBERG: "Jurassic Park," exactly.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Laura Dern is not the answer. That came up earlier, but that is not the answer. Jack Torrance at the Overlook Hotel with the ax.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Sydney?

LEVIN: "The Shining."

EISENBERG: Come play trivia with us forever. Yes, Sydney.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Red Rum. Oh, I love that movie. Every Valentine's I watch that.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Scar at the gorge with a wildebeest stampede.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Sydney?

LEVIN: "The Lion King."

EISENBERG: You got that immediately. You know your "Lion King."

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Dr. Frankenfurter in the lab with the pickax.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Dan?

MARGOLIS: "Rocky Horror Picture Show."

EISENBERG: "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Dammit, Dan, you're right.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: And this is our last question. George Wilson at the West Egg Swimming Pool with the gun.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Sydney?

LEVIN: "Great Gatsby."

EISENBERG: "Great Gatsby" is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

JONATHAN COULTON: Ophira, it's a tie score. I'll read this tiebreak here. Are you ready? Han Solo in the cantina with the blaster by shooting first.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Dan?

MARGOLIS: "Star Wars."

COULTON: Yes, that's correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Congratulations, Dan, you are moving on to our Ask Me One More final round coming at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: And now, a little Jonathan Coulton.

(SOUNDBITE OF SINGING)

COULTON: Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head. Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lucy in the sky with diamonds.